Improved machine for trimming-welted seams



WLLIAM H. ROUNDS,OF NORTH BR'DGEVVATER, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 85,028, dated December 15, 1868.`

IMPROVED MACHINE FOR TRIMMING-WELTED SEAMS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of. thoname.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LWILMAM H.Rou1vns, of North Bridgewater, in the countyof Plymouth, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an ImprovedMachine for Trinnning Welted Seains; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing, taken iu connection with the drawings which accompany andform part of this specification, is a description of my invention,sufficientto enable those skilled in the art to practise it.

In sewing up boot-legs, it is common to stitch a weltstrip in betweenthe edges, the two pieces of leather being laid face to face, and aitera leg is stitched, the pieces are flattened out at the. seam, the outeredge of the three thicknesses being trimmed and rubbed down, and theopposite projecting edge of the welt being alsol trimmed closely down tothe face of the leather.

It requires a very skilful use of the knife to trim these edgesaccurately, without injury to the stitches or to the stock; and theobject of our inventionhas been to solconstruct a feeding and cuttingmechanism that the trimming of' such and similarstitched welts should beautomatically and accurately effected by mechanism.

My invention consists primarily in combining, with a feed-mechanism, aforked cutter, which should receive the welt or welted edge between itsprongs, and trim ott' the edge thereof, as the stock is fed through themachine.

It also consists in combining an upper and a lower cutter of thisdescription, so as to trim both edges of the welt at one operation.

Also, in combining, with such cutters, finishing-rolls, that shall pressand smooth the trimmed edges.

The drawings represent a mechanism embodying myinvention.

A shows a side elevation ofthe machine.

B is a plan of the same.

C is a. front-end elevation.

a denotes a base-plate; l1, a standard or head, in which are bearing forsupporting the journals of a feed-roll, c, driven by suitable power;said feed-roll being shown as geared to a ch'iving-shaft, d, by gearsThis feed-roll is grooved, to admit the outer edge ofthe weltcd leather;and just below the roll is a cutter, g, having on each side of itaprong, h., the shank of the prongs and cutter being fastened to a longlever, v1', hung on a fnlcrnm, k, the rear end of the lever being bornedowli by a spring or weight, the stress ot' which presses the cutter andprongs'up towards the leed-wheel, or against the stock introducedbetween the wheel and the cutter.

Above the said cutter and prongs, isanother cutter, l, projecting intothc grom'e of the roll c, this cutter being on the end of a shank, in,and having prongs n 11 projecting forward from the sides ofit.

' The cutter l is for trimming the outer edge of the welt, that is tosay, the edge which comes inside the leg when finished, and the edge ofthe stock on each side thereof', and the cutter g is for cutting off thelopposite or wide edge thereof, which lies between the two main piecesof stock.

In introducing the welted edge 'to be trimmed, the prongs 'of theupper'cutter are fmade to straddle the upper or narrow edge of the weltand the adjacent edges of `the stock, the three edges being pressed upagainst the teeth of the feed-wheel by the prongs h ofthe cutter g, andthe main piece of stock below the seam', on cach side ofthe welt, ispassed down outside of the prongs below, the wide edge of the weltdropping between the prongs In n, and in front 'of the cut- -ter l, asshown in section at D.

When the feed-roll is rotated in the direction ofthe arrow, the stockwill be fed under the roll, the prongs acting as guides, and keeping thetwo edges of the welt in the vertical plane ofthe centre ofthe twocutters, the cutters trimming .off the two edges of the welt, and thenarrow edges of the stock projecting beyond the scam as the stock is fedup to and by them,

the stock being held up to the action of the feed-roll,

so as to insm'e -its progrcssion, by the spring or weight, at the outerend o f the lever l, or by a treadle connected with said end 0f thelever.

lVhen the welted seam has been fed through, the

1fork l may be thrown down from the feed-wheel, by

means of a lever, o, fnlcrumed at p, and having an arm extending underthe rear end of lever i, 'pressure down upon the front end of the lever0 forcing up the rear end of lever i, as will be readily understood.

Just in rear of the two cutters and the feed-wheel is a pair ofedge-iinishing rolls', q r, the upper one of which turns on a shaft,joui-nailed in stationary bearings in the head of the machine, while theshaft of the lower one is journalled in the end of the lever i, as seenat A.

The shaft of the upper roll carries a gear, s, meshing into and chivenby the driving-gear f, so as to make said roll a feeding-device.

The edge of this roll is concave, while the edge of the lower roll isconvex, and 11s-.tbe welted edge passes between them, upward pressurebeing applied to the front end of the lever fi, the edges of the. upperroll will compress and rub down the three adjacent outer' edges of thewelt and stock` while the under roll will act against the inner edge ofthe welt, pressing it into the seam, and smoothing and finishing it.

It will thus be seen that both edges of the welt are trimmed olf andlinishcd at one operation, and while the lower or the upper-prongedcutter may be employed alone, I prefer to employ both in the samemachine, in order that both edges of the welt may he trimmed at once.

Thev action of the cutters is gauged by the lower prongs, which pressagainst the stock, opened from.-

the welt, as seen at D, and as the onterel-ige of the welt and theadjacent edges ofthe stockarfgirregulai; in width from' the seam,beforefbeing cutth'e vupper fork is so applied that it may yieldvertically, in aeeordanoe with this irregular width of edge beyond theseam, the shank of the upper forked eu'tter being, for ,this purpose,fastened to aspring, s and as the lower fork must be pressed hardagainst the stock, to insure its feed-movement while undef the action ofthe cutters, the lower iinishing-roll alsohas provision for verticallyield, its journals being supported upon posts t, which rest uponsprings 11.

I claim, in combination with a mechanism for feeding a. stitched weltedseam, cutters` for trimming the edges of such welt and seam, suchcutters being each provided with prongs for straddling the welt or seam,

and guiding it to theaetionof the cutter, substantially as described.

I also claim, in combination with the feed and trimming-mechanism, 'theedge-iinishing rolls, substantially as shown and described.

I also claim, hanging the upper knife and the lower finishing-roll,withprovision for yielding, substantially as described.

WM. H. ROUN'DS,

Witnesses:

J. B. GR0sBY,' Feuers Gouw.

